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Friday, July 31, 2015

Minecraft: Snapshot 15w31a and THE ENNNND of Your Wait

Two days ago Mojang released their first snapshot (and shortly after second and third) for Minecraft since they were bought by Microsoft in the Fall of last year. It has been a long, LONG time. It feels like it has almost been a year now (345 days according to the wiki). While the silence had me worried for a little bit there, Minecraft's upcoming 1.9 Battle Update has me so excited! Already with this first snapshot we have a few new things, and considering how long they've been silent, I'm sure there are PLENTY MORE to come. Look at Minecraft's Gamepedia wiki yourself and see the many potential upcoming shinies! "Potential" because they may not be able to do everything.

For those of you who aren't sure what a Minecraft snapshot is, it's basically an experimental build that can be downloaded and offers the chance to preview and test out some things that Mojang releases. It is by no means the entire upcoming update for Minecraft. The content is just released slowly in chunks and worked on slowly (or quickly with smaller updates).

So I chose to adventure into lands unknown to discover some of the new stuff that was uploaded. Of those things, many new shinies await us in The End. So I went to The End and had a grand old time!

The Stuff

Or about as grand as this could look

I wandered around in creative mode and made my way here. I had to defeat the Ender Dragon first to get to some of the newer stuff, which was so difficult not being able to take damage in Creative mode and all. Just the worst. Here are some of the things I found!

After the Ender Dragon was defeated, this spawned with a beam of purple light. It's called an End Gateway Portal (at least for now). This allows for teleportation to the surrounding islands, which have....

Chorus plants! These plants cover the other End islands in a forest. When broken, the entire thing collapses and drop Chorus flowers, which can be used to create Purpur type blocks. These type of blocks can be found in...

A new type of structure that contains epic lewtz! This is called an End City. I found two of these structures and thought calling them a city was a bit much because they clearly look like a tower. Then, whilst looking at the Minecraft wiki I found a much more accurate picture.

Found on http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/

Well ain't THAT imposing. Much better than what my map gave me. Why have you forsaken me map?!

Anyway, this End City is essentially a new type of dungeon. As you can see from this screenshot inside the End City, it contains elements of parkour. You can also see the purpur-type block in greater detail. There's also a new light source (the white thing) called the End Rod as well as a new type of enemy called a Shulker!

They lurk in their little block shells until you come too close, and then..,

They fire missiles at you! When they hit you, you float up from a new effect called Levitation.. In this closed off building, that's totally fine, but if I'm outside and this happens, I'd float up and then fall for some massive fall damage.

I'm pretty excited about the new things I've seen so far. The End was just an end goal (a cheap pun but I took it! I did it for the halibut!) of sorts to eventually get your character to, but now Mojang has taken the game farther than that and have added some awesome new content. To think this is just after the first snapshot! There are very exciting things ahead.

That said, I do hope that we get new blocks for the overworld. Because I tend to build more than anything else, I'll probably never reach The End, or at least never on my own. It's too much work to prepare for battle. I could be getting more diamond pickaxes with the diamonds I use to make armor!

I'm also not too crazy about the purpur blocks. They are interesting, but in an otherworldly kind of way that I'm not sure has much room in my usual builds. As it is, I'm struggling to find a place for the latest stone additions of granite, diorite and andesite. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't go for something a little darker and totally twisted. I suppose that's what the Nether is for, but what else would you expect from a place called The End? The End, of course! The purple in the purpur blocks is very soft, and the creamy color of the the endstone blocks, while serving as a nice contrast, is also similarly soft and "fluffy." However, I do think the chorus plants fit in perfectly. They fit in with the dark and somber atmosphere that is The End. I want more like it!

What are your thoughts on the latest additions to the End? Love it? Hate it? Want pizza all over it? Let me know in the comments!